Shot planning
How to Build a Shot List for a 30-Second Video
The six columns, the numbering habit and the four-to-six beats that give a short video a structure the edit can follow.
Storyboards, shot lists and schedules
Plan the video before you shoot a single frame
A short planning session turns a vague idea into a numbered list of shots you can actually film. These guides show the documents we use on client work, from a one-page shot list to a full shooting-day schedule.
Why plan
A thirty-minute plan saves a whole shooting day
Planning is not paperwork. It is the difference between arriving with an idea and arriving with a list of shots that fit the story, the light and the time you actually have.
Most creators lose their best footage in the edit, not on set. They film plenty, but the takes do not connect: no establishing frame, no clean detail shot, no reaction to cut to. A shot list written in advance solves that by forcing you to decide, on paper, what the sequence needs.
The three documents below cover the full process. Start with the shot list, add a storyboard only when the visual idea is complicated, and finish with a schedule so the day does not depend on luck or on your phone holding battery in an unplanned location.
The best footage comes from a list, not a feeling
We plan every client shoot around a numbered shot list and a written fallback for each scene. On the day, that means fewer decisions under pressure and more time for the shots that matter.
The method
How a short video gets planned in four steps
Write the one-line promise
Before any shot is imagined, write what the viewer should understand by the end. One sentence, no adjectives. Every decision in the next three steps has to serve that sentence.
Break the promise into beats
A thirty-second video usually holds four to six beats: an opening hook, a setup, a demonstration, a payoff and a closing action. Each beat becomes a group of shots in the list.
Build the shot list
Column headings, in this order: number, beat, shot, framing, movement, notes. Write the shots you need, then write one backup shot for each scene you cannot repeat.
Schedule the day against the light
Order the shot list by location and light, not by script order. Group everything that shares a setup, and place any shot that depends on natural light early.
Shot lists
What a good shot list actually contains
A usable shot list is short enough to hold while filming and specific enough to remove decisions. Six columns are enough: shot number, which beat it serves, what the shot shows, how the frame is built, whether the camera moves, and any note about props, dialogue or the light.
The discipline that makes it work is numbering. Numbers let you discuss the edit while you are still shooting: you can see immediately that beat three has only one angle, or that you have six wide shots and nothing to cut them against.
- One line per shot, never a paragraph
- A framing note for every shot, even if it is a guess
- At least one backup option per unrepeatable scene
- A circled mark for the shots the edit cannot work without
Before the shoot
Ten planning checks that protect your edit
Run down this list the day before filming. It takes ten minutes and it prevents the most common editing dead ends.
- One-line promise written and agreed
- Beats mapped in order
- Shot list numbered and printed
- Backup shot noted for each unrepeatable scene
- Framings varied: wide, medium, detail
- Opening hook shot identified
- Clean plate planned for text overlays
- Light direction checked at shooting hour
- Battery, cards and support packed
- Files transferred and backed up at the end of the day
Planning questions
What creators ask us before their first planned shoot
How long should planning take for a 30-second video?
Between twenty and forty minutes for the first version: ten minutes for the promise and beats, fifteen for the shot list, five for the schedule. Planning gets faster with repetition because the beats stop being a question.
Do I need a storyboard for every video?
No. Storyboards earn their time when the sequence depends on movement, effects or a specific visual idea. For talking clips and simple product shots a shot list plus reference stills is usually enough.
What is a clean plate and why does it matter?
A clean plate is the same framing filmed without the subject or with hands out of the way. Editors use it to place captions and graphics without covering the subject, and to cover cuts in a sequence.
How do I plan around weather and daylight?
Group everything that needs natural light into the first block of the day and film the flexible shots afterwards. Always plan an interior fallback for any exterior scene you cannot reshoot.
Should I plan phone and camera shots differently?
The plan is the same, but the practical notes differ. Phones heat up and need shorter takes, so plan more, shorter shots; larger cameras need more setup time, so plan fewer, longer sequences.
Guides
The planning library
Three documents, three guides. Read them in order and you have a complete method for planning short-form video.
Storyboarding
Storyboards That Speed Up Your Edit
Rough rectangles are enough. Draw the frame, the movement and the cut, and stop before the drawing becomes a project of its own.
Production planning
Planning a Shooting Day: Timeline and Backup Shots
Build the day around light, group setups, and decide in advance what gets cut when time runs short.
Feedback
Send us your shot list
If you have built a list and it is not surviving contact with the shoot, write to us. We read every plan that gets sent in and explain what we would change.